Diamond and Cliff Lakes Trail

Diamond and Cliff Lakes Trail is a 2.8 mile out and back trail located near Superior, Montana that features a lake and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, trail running, camping, and nature trips and is best used from June until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail.

The smoke from the forest fires is starting to clear up, so I drove over to Montana to check out this trail. It is a bit of a drive off of paved road, to get here - about 10 miles of gravel road, albeit well-maintained gravel road.

You get two lakes for the price of one, with this hike! The trailhead starts at Diamond Lake, which is a beautiful mountain lake. The trail to Cliff Lake has an upward incline all of the way, but nothing that should dissuade the average hiker. A sign on the trail said that the distance to Cliff lake is only one mile. My pedometer clocked closer to 1.5.

Cliff Lake is worth the visit, even without Diamond Lake as frosting on the cake. Make sure to hike around to the opposite end of the lake, to the foot of the cliff. The alpine meadows on that side, are lovely!

Fun hike, very scenic. I had to go with a 3 solely due to the accessibility of Cliff Lake for fishing purposes. If you're after a short hike it's great. Only 1 campsite, maybe 2. Steep and no flat spots. Which again, all good for just a fun hike or a day at the lake to swim. Float tube would be a good idea for fishing. Make sure to download the map because there's no road signs to the lake and a couple turns could mess you up.

The snow is 100% gone, so get up there and enjoy a quick awesome hike.
FYI, you don't hike at all to get to diamond. It sits against the parking lot.
I was able to make it easily in my mazda sedan.
Bring your bathing suit and pool toys.

Gorgeous views all the way up the trail to the lake and on the way down. This trail started off easy and towards the top became steeper. There was areas of snow, which added to the fun of the hike.

Debbie J.

hiking

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The trail starts out pretty easy, going up and down the valley, but after awhile it quickly starts to incline and is covered with a lot of overgrown underbrush and you can't really see where you're stepping, so watch out for holes in the trail! Once you start to incline you have a beautiful view of the valley below and you can see why there are warning signs for Black and Grizzly bears. There are Elder Berry bushes everywhere and we encountered several fresh bear tracks further up the trail. The trail continues to incline, but at least the underbrush is decreased by the introduction of the heavy forest. There are several crossings of beautiful creeks with foot bridges and wooden steps. Upon arrival at the first lake, we were astonished at the beauty of the alpine country. The lake was set in a "bowl", surrounded by tall mountains. There was snow on all sides of the hills and we were up there at the end of August. There are only a couple of campsites to spend the night at, but it was well worth the trip.